THE DEADHEAD'S DIARY
NZ Truth , Issue 924, 11 August 1923, Page 15
About this newspaper
THE DEADHEAD'S DIARY
Gloria Swanson's latest offering for Paramount is entitled "My American Wife." Miss Swanson is seen here as a musical comedy star who falls m love ■with a South American diplomat, so that the man finds that he has other Intrigues on his hands than thtfse of nation^. A tale of adventure on three Continents, ' of life m the upper crusts and under-worlds, the locale of the story ranges from South America to ; the magnificent homes of Long Islands Heralded as one of Paramount's bigi gest offerings for this year, "Adams Rib" will be presented by Cecil B. t>e MUle. This is a modern love story — a drama of women's passions, courage and sacrifice. The theme Is one that | goes back over the primeval age, It carries one from the ballroom of society back td the jungle m an age when the loves and passions. of men are likened to the faults and merits of modern men and women. I : : : : : : One of the most famous fiction writers of the present day Is Rex Beach, and one of his most popular stories is "The Ne'er Do M This has been transferred to the Bcreen by Parai mc/unt and will be released m a few weeks. Never before has Tom Meighan scored such a triumph as In the role of the character of Rex Beach's story, the wastrel son of a New York millionaire. Ldla Lee, la the leading lady. ~ :: :: ti W. Allaby writes: Mention of Ratana being on ttfur with a troupe of Maori entertainers reminds me .that some time ago, . Henare, a budding entrepeneur <Jt Rotortta, engaged the local theatre for a performance .-by members of his tribe. The evening of the great event duly arrived, likewise Henare and his troupe at the theatre. A dusky ticket seller took his Beat at the appointed place and Henare opened the door to admit the rush. But no- rush appeared, neither was there a solitary patron visible on the horizon. The manager of the theatre happened along, and, feeling cuxioHis, asked Henare the whereforeness of the public's absence. Henare was at a loss to explain. "Did you stick up the bills and put the advertisement m the paper?" asked Manager Mac. "Py korry, 1 * said Henare, "tat's It I forget te pffls and to advertiM'meW And the show was adjourned sine dtac i: tt ii Even popular music, now and then, takes its own time coming into general approval. "Three O'clock m the Morning," one of the latest dance, successes In recorded music,, was composed m Chile, some years ago, and, according to the story, by a cabaret musician who used to come home at that hour, the normal time for dosing. i: :i :i The "New York Eventnff Post" m a recent editorial said that never has any device for producing harmony been so widely distributed as the talking machine. In Hawaii, according to this article, there are more talking machines than ukuleles, and m Uganda' than tom-toms. By the way, and contrary to popular belief, that ukulele and the various guitars now associated with Hawaiian musio are not primitive Instruments, but were introduced Into the Islands from "civilised" sources. , st it it The reputation of the Australian singers now m London has been added to during the past few weeks, both m, the performances of the national Opera Company and elsewhere (writes "Truth's" London correspondent). Leah Myers, who now calls herself Russelmyr — an awttward attempt at a norn de theatre— hit them hard with her rendering of Louise m Carpentier's opera of that name. Dispassionate observers may have compared her critically with. Jean Brola, whose biggest success m Australia was perhaps the same roje, but undoubtedly she did well and earned all sorts of praisoJ Then Horace Btevens, the Melbourne baritone, made his first appearance m opera as Wotan In the Valkyries—can anybody imagine a more exacting test for anybody who has never sung m opera m public before? He did wonderfully well and the London press rather stultified themselves (with' a few notable exceptions) by passing over the whole performance — it wa/a a repeat one — with only cursory remarks. But Stevens received shoals of letters from music-lovers and the cognoscenti declared that there have seldom if ever been better Wotans heard m London. On the concert, platform a young tenor with lots to learn, R. Barry-Mason, whose mother is Dame Melba's secretary, had a good press for the most part; at any rate, encouraging enough to go on with. He is a pupil of Laplerre, who came over from Paris specially to accompany him. . < : : : :; 1 1 Not the Seventh but the Tenth Com-' mandment will receive the most earnest attention of Cecil B. De MUle m his forthcoming Paramount film ver!sion of the Decalogue. 'T want to I correct a general impression that I : will httor with particular weight on the Seventh Commandment," says Mr. De MUle. "The Seventh is an important pronouncement, but It pales into insignificance alongside the one which I says, Though shalt not covet thy ' neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy i neighbor's.' In the Tenth Commandment we get down to a root evil that runs through all the other commandment — Covetousneaa. All evil Is really theft of some sort, and If I can drive that fact home I shall have made a success of this undertaking. I regret that because it la perhaps the most famous, that the Seventh Commandment should have been named as the goal of my efforts In making the Decalogue as a motion ploture. The Seventh Commandment deals with a mistake of the flesh. The Tenth Commandment covers the entire range of moral dereliction, both physical and spiritual. My whole purposo m making "The Ten Commandments' la not to unduly exalt any one of them, but to show definitely and powerfully that the Ten Commandments are an unchanged, inescapable, fundamental code of moral laws, and they will break any one who seeks to break them. It is going to be the greatest pleasure of my picturemaking career to drive this thought home through the medium of a dramatic story that will first show Biblical days and then stress how the Ten Commandments are directly applicable to modern, twentieth century life." :: :i :: These theatrical entrepreneurs have always got "a new one." Commenting on the poetical nature of . French movies, Eddie Geach, who Is travelling on the Continent, rather kicks what Brer Rabbit would describe aa "the natal atuffln 1 " out of his own statement by stating that at a luncheon tendered to him by picture men he heard Jackie Coogan's mother described as "the gooao that laid the golden egg." Distinctly poetic
